The Two Mirrors
by xxmagentaxcamelliaxx
Summary: Miriam wasn't a normal girl, and she longed to be one. But the fact that she can see spirits doesn't help either. With one little encounter though her fate was sealed and was bound to the world of spirits deeper than she ever imagined.
1. The Inevitable

_**There are a great many strange things in the world.**_

_**But no matter how odd,**_

_**How incredible something may be,**_

_**If a human does not touch it,**_

_**If a human does not see it,**_

_**If a human is not involved in it,**_

_**It is simply something that happened,**_

_**Simply a matter that will fade with time.**_

_**Humans are the most profoundly mysterious living things in the world.**_

If there was anything Miriam Sangare wished for anything in the world it was never to see spirits again. For as long as she could remember she had the ability but didn't know where it had come from. Sometimes she had to fight some spirits that were bent on devouring her soul. She wanted nothing more than to be a normal girl living in New York City. Yet faith had a little game called "Let's screw Miriam over." As of now a spirit was following Miriam.

"Get away from me!" Miriam yelled receiving stares from passersby

She decided to head home to her penthouse apartment. She dashed past the doorman and into the elevator .she pressed nineteen the highest floor on the building and entered her apartment which was silent.

"Empty as always." She whispered.

Miriam's parents were wealthy CEOs but because of their jobs they barely had time for their only daughter. She would call them on the phone but that wasn't enough. She would sometimes forget their names or what they looked like. She wouldn't be surprised if they forget about her. Due to their growing absence Miriam learned to look after herself. Miriam's favorite hobby was cooking and she had become really good at it. She liked cooking all sorts of dishes.

"Maybe I should cook Benachin (1) for dinner and make some Madeleines (2) for desert." Miriam pondered.

She wasn't really hungry though and decided to skip dinner and head to bed.

It was Saturday morning by time Miriam woke and she decided to go to Barnes and Nobles to buy some new books. She kept walking with her head down until she bumped into someone.

"I'm so sorry I wasn't looking." Miriam blurted out.

"No I should be apologizing." Miriam looked up to see a man with short, somewhat wild blond hair, emerald eyes, and thick eyebrows.

"Hello my name is Arthur Kirkland." The man said while bowing a little. Miriam blushed at the gestured.

"My name is Miriam Sangare." Miriam said.

"By any chance are you Gambian (3)?" Arthur asked.

"Why yes, my father is Gambian while my mom is Portuguese." Miriam answered. "How did you know?"

"Just a lucky guess." Arthur answered quickly.

"While it was nice talking to you Mr. Kirkland."

"Yes, I hope we can have another encounter." Arthur said with a smile.

"What a coincidence. He knew my ethnicity." Miriam said walking away.

"_There is no such thing as coincidence, only the inevitable."_

"Who said that?" Miriam looked for the owner of the voice but found nobody.

"It must be my mind, I did skip dinner and breakfast. I should get something to eat."

Miriam stopped at the nearest café and when she stepped in she was greeted with all sorts of aromas. She got so distracted she bumped into someone again.

"I'm so sorry I …" Miriam stopped talking as soon as she saw who it was.

"Hello Miriam fancy meeting you here." Arthur smiled at her.

"Yeah what a coincidence." Miriam suddenly member what the faceless voice told her.

"Would you like to grab a bite together?" Arthur asked.

"Sure." Miriam replied smiling.

Little did Miriam know this encounter would change her life and the lives of those she is fated to meet.

**Linear Notes**

(1)- Benachin is a popular Gambian dish originating from Senegal which involves the frying of rice, meat, and vegetables.

(2)- Madeleines are traditional small cakes from France.

(3)- Gambia was under British control until 1965.


	2. The Woman in the Twilight

Miriam actually had a great time with Arthur. She learned that he was a British man attending a meeting in New York. In return Arthur got to learn that Miriam was a seventeen year old girl who recently earned her PhD in medical science and would be taking up residency (1) when she felt ready.

"That really is impressive, you must be a genius." Arthur said in awe.

"Oh it's nothing I just work hard because of my parents." Miriam said sheepishly,

"Do you live with your parents?" Arthur asked.

"No, they're CEOs so I barely get to see them. I call them sometimes but other than that I live alone." Miriam said with a sad tone in her voice.

"I'm so sorry, if you want to visit me this is where I'll be staying for the next week." Arthur gave Miriam a piece of paper with the address of the hotel he was staying at.

"'I'll give you my address just in case you come back to New York and want to visit me." Miriam said as she wrote her address on a piece of paper and handed it to Arthur.

"That would be lovely."

As the two bid farewell to each other Miriam started heading towards Barnes and Nobles to get a book her professor recommended to her.

"I know it'll be a great book my professor has such a great taste in literature."

As Miriam headed to the book store, she had bumped into someone. Once again it was Arthur.

"_What a coincidence that we keep bumping into each other." _Miriam thought.

"_As I said before there are no coincidences only the inevitable. You were fated to meet this man."_ The faceless voice had once again appeared in her thoughts. But why would it be telling her these things. What does Arthur have to do with it?

"It's so weird that we keep bumping into each other." Miriam giggles.

"Yes and we're starting to become friends this way." Arthur said blushing.

"I feel like I'm getting in your way how about I take you to your hotel and we can talk. Well after we buy our books of course." Miriam suggested.

"That would be lovely." Arthur replied.

After purchasing their books Miriam and Arthur hailed a cab and headed down to the hotel at which Arthur was staying.

"Here it is." Arthur announced as they stepped out of the cab.

Miriam looked at the place in awe. It was the Plaza Hotel (2)! Miriam had been there once but she was very young at the time so she didn't remember much of the experience.

"This place is expensive, Arthur how can you afford this?" Miriam asked in awe.

"You can say it's been covered for." Arthur answered

"Wow Arthur you must have a well paying job. What do you do for a living?"

"Well you can say I'm sort of a politician."

"That's amazing can I see you at work someday?" Miriam asked with and excited gleam in her brown eyes.

"It's best you don't see what it's like it gets pretty ugly in there."

"Oh I see sometimes arguments break out because certain people disagree."

"Yes, how did you know?" asked Arthur amazed by Miriam's inference.

"Well its politics, one would expect that people would argue about certain things." Miriam answered in a matter of fact tone.

"Well it's about time to get going the meeting will start about any minute. It was nice meeting you Miriam." Arthur said.

"Yes, it was nice meeting you too Arthur I hope we can see each other again." Miriam said with a smile.

As Miriam walked home she wondered about the day. It was weird how she kept bumping into Arthur but in a way she was glad she did. She felt as though she had gained a friend whom she can talk too, someone who won't make her as lonely as she used to be.

Miriam stepped into her empty penthouse apartment wishing Arthur was here to talk to her. Sighing she got up and started to make her dinner for tonight

"I guess I'll make domo (3)." Miriam started dinner then drifted off to sleep where she had a dream, one that marked the changing of her fate.

"Where am I?" Miriam asked looking around her. She was under a big oak tree and it seemed the sun was setting in this dream.

"You're in the twilight world, where the sun seems as if it's setting always." It was the faceless voice!

"You, you were the one talking to me you better stop appearing and disappearing. It's creeping me out." Miriam yelled.

"What are you going to do if I don't stop?" Miriam turned to see a woman who looked like an adult version of her.

The woman had jet black hair that was up to her ankles, caramel skin that glowed, and brown eyes that glistened, not to mention she was full- figured. She definitely looked like the older version of Miriam.

"Who are you?" Miriam asked.

"I'm you, just older." The woman answered.

"What is it exactly you are trying to say?" Miriam asked frustrated.

"What is it that you don't get? There are no coincidences just the inevitable. Accept your fate." Older Miriam answered.

"What does that mean?" Miriam yelled out.

Before older Miriam could answer Miriam woke up to find the domo was burnt.

"Just my luck, I'll have to order take out." Miriam hissed to herself.

"What the heck was that dream was about?" Miriam couldn't help but wonder.

In a room in the Plaza Hotel a British man couldn't help but shake the felling that meeting a certain girl would change his life.

**Linear Notes**

(1)- Residency is when a medical student must work for a certain amount of years in a hospital training for their profession before officially becoming a doctor.

(2)- The Plaza is one of New York City's most famous and fanciest hotels. It was the setting for the movie "Eloise".

(3)- Domo is a Gambian dish in which leftover stew is put over rice.


	3. The Camellia With a Thousand Petals

Ever since her last encounter with her older self, Miriam starting having more spiritual encounters. She met spirits of all shapes, sizes, and even some with spiritual powers. She even had spiritual encounter in her dreams, and she was having one those dreams as of now. Miriam had ended up in a world of eerie, silent darkness.

"What is this place?" Miriam asked no one in particular. She dwelled in the silence until someone started singing.

_When will the camellia's bloom?_

_When the children come out to play._

_When will the camellia's smell?_

_When the children sing and dance._

_When will the camellia's wilt?_

_When the dead children ascend from the grave_.

The song it was beautiful yet at the same time melancholy. Miriam turned around to find the singer, a girl with porcelain pale skin. She was wearing a puffy sleeved oink dress with a red ribbon tied around the waist. She also had pigtails with red ribbons tying them. Miriam tried to walk towards her but some force was holding her in place.

"Don't go that way if you do you'll be met with despair." A straining voice had called out to Miriam.

"What are you talking about?!" Miriam asked bewildered.

Miriam didn't know what to do, she then began to feel a sensation at her legs; she was sinking into the darkness!

"Please heed my warning!" The voice from before had called out before Miriam disappeared into the darkness completely.

With that Miriam woke up in sweat. She sat up and became pensive of what had just happened. She immediately grabbed her dream journal to jot down her latest dream. Ever since the dream with older Miriam; Miriam kept a journal to record her dreams to see if they had any connection to what she said. So far, she found none. Miriam looked to her alarm clock to see it was Saturday 10 'o 'clock in the morning. Arthur was in NYC for a meeting, and had invited Miriam for tea at one, and was inviting his colleagues much to his chagrin.

"At least I have something to look forward to, and it might take my mind of things for a while." Miriam murmured trying to be optimistic.

Miriam decided to sleep for another hour, before getting up to ready herself. She decided to wear a short white dress with a black cardigan, and black tights. She wanted to look classy as to not embarrass Arthur even though she hated dresses. She would give any excuse not to wear them. Burning them, ripping them up, or staining them with tomato sauce. Though most of the time she would just sell them and give the money to charity or buy books, manga, and anime. She decided on flats since she couldn't walk in heels to save her life. Deciding that she finally looked presentable, Miriam headed out and drove to the café.

When she got there she saw Arthur with seven other men she could distinguish easily (1). Whenever she and Arthur talked on the phone together, she would beg him to talk about his colleagues. Even though he was reluctant at first he conceded to her demand. Miriam walked up to them and introduced herself.

"Hello my name is Miriam, and you don't have to introduce yourselves, Arthur talks so much about you." Miriam curtsied after her greeting.

"Ah polite and beautiful, just as you said Arthur." the one Miriam could identify as Francis said with a smirk prominent on his face.

Miriam blushed at the comment and sat down; she went ahead and grabbed a slice of chiffon cake (2) with hot chocolate. By the end of the day Miriam had to say she was enjoying herself. She loved hearing Feliciano ramble on about pasta, Alfred talking about why The Avengers were awesome, and Francis and Yao arguing over which type of cuisine is better. She hadn't enjoyed herself this much in years, she was saddened when they had to go. After they left Miriam decided to head home.

_When will the camellia's bloom?_

_When the children come out to play._

_When will the camellia's smell?_

_When the children sing and dance._

_When will the camellia's wilt?_

_When the dead children ascend from the grave_.

It was the song from before; Miriam stopped walking to see she was standing in a field of red camellias. There were so many at least a thousand camellias.

'_Heed my warning! Run before it's too late.'_

It was the voice from before! Miriam began to feel a sensation at her legs and saw he was sinking into the flowers, and falling into a world of darkness just like her dream. The little girl from her dream was also there, but this time she was standing in front of her and there was no force holding Miriam down.

"Please don't leave me its scary here.' The girl pleaded to Miriam.

"Okay little girl, but where do we go?" Miriam asked

"Over there to the light." The little girl pointed to the other side where a bright light shone prominently.

"Don't go, you mustn't go…' it was the voice from before warning her.

"You mustn't…'

"go or…"

"you'll meet…"

"despair…"

The faceless voice was coming in from all directions.

"Stop it! Don't tell her that! Don't make her leave me! If I don't leave then it'll wilt and I'll be stuck here forever!" the little girl cried.

She pointed to a red camellia with a plethora of petals; there had to be a thousand.

"Come on let's go." The girl began to drag Miriam but something was holding Miriam in place. It was the force from before! The girl kept dragging Miriam until she eventually gave up breaking down into tears.

"I'll be alone her forever! It's so scary to be alone!" the little girl cried tears streaming down her pale cheeks.

"Then go on to the light, I'll be here watching you.' Miriam was coaxing the girl.

The little girl meekly got up and walked towards the light, stopping on the way a bit, but eventually made it. The thousand petal camellia wilted, its petals dancing to their end. Miriam suddenly woke up in the field of camellia's which had wilted. Someone was holding her, it was Arthur and his colleagues were there all with worried looks on their faces. Miriam was also holding on to something. It was the hand of a corpse.

'_She was brave to be alone for so long.'_ were Miriam's last thoughts before slipping into unconsciousness.

**Linear Notes**

**- (1) You all know who they are I'm too lazy to introduce them.**

**- (2) Chiffon cake is ****a****very light cake made with vegetable oil, eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder, and flavorings.**


End file.
